Halflives: My Life in the Sierra Club

Having known and been fortunate enough to have worked with Brooke recently his book does justice with presenting his look at how life can be fulfilled without cable, fashion or surround-sound entertainment. He shows his readers a quieter and less stressful way to try and live life outside the realms of what marketers want us to believe our lives should be. Imagine yourself sitting on the front porch, sipping ice tea slowly, enjoying every drop.

In 'Halflives' Brooke Williams tells the engrossing story, his own, of a divided man trying to knit his two parts back together within a culture where the economic is considered to be the only appreciable reality. The ideal of 'meaningful work' butchers nearly all of us and it is intriguing indeed to read how Brooke Williams struggled his way free.

...a deeply satisfying account of a man coming to terms with himself...Always finding his authentic inner self in the outdoors, Williams powerfully represents his sense of mystery and resolution in nature. Moving between art and life in a eloquent reflection on searching and choosing, Williams conveys the mindfulness that, on good days, makes his halflives into 'two halves of one.'

Brooke Williams pays attention. Whether staring at a canyon wall dotted with ancient paintings, bobbing in a small boat in the center of a pod of curious killer whales, skiing the back country in conditions overripe for avalanche, or forming a noose for a halibut more than half his size, Brooke Williams pays such close attention that he leaves us grateful and impatient and reverent and ashamed. He helps us forgive ourselves our paralysis and gives us permission to go outside and play.

"Throw away your self-help manuals. For those who dare, 'Halflives' offers a straightforward, funny and deeply beautiful guide to authentic living. Read it and change!"